Croatia

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by Germany, Italy and other Axis states on 6 April 1941. The country capitulated on 17 April and Germans, Italians, Hungarians and Bulgarians occupied and partitioned the country. On 10 April 1941 the Germans troops entered Zagreb, and the Independent State of Croatia [Nezavisna država Hrvatska, NDH] was proclaimed by the representatives of the Ustaša movement. The Axis powers sponsored the NDH’s expansion through the incorporation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the complete Eastern Srijem region (today part of the Republic of Serbia). Conversely, they immediately and systematically began to chip away at Croatian sovereignty: Italy occupied and eventually annexed parts of Dalmatia, Hungary annexed Međimurje on the northern tip of Croatia. Both German and Italian troops had more or less free reign in their respective zones of influence, which covered virtually the entire territory of the NDH. The NDH existed until the end of the Second World War in May 1945.

At the outbreak of the Second World War 23,000 to 24,000 Jews lived in Croatia out of an estimated total population of 2,481,000 according to the 1931 census. The NDH authorities immediately began introducing anti-Jewish measures, many also anti-Roma and anti-Serb. As in Nazi Germany, the NDH government defined being Jewish in racial terms. Between April 1941 and October 1942, the NDH decreed at least 30 laws and regulations on the national level and many more on provincial and local levels that established the status of Jews in the new state, regulated the confiscation and redistribution of Jewish property and dismantled Jewish communities as well as other Jewish organisations. On 30 April 1941, it issued three anti-Jewish laws that defined who was Jewish and determined their legal status: the Legal Provision on Citizenship, the Legal Provision on Racial Origins, and the Legal Provision on the Protection of Aryan Blood and the Honour of the Croatian People. During May of 1941, the Ustaša began to conduct mass-arrests, deportations to concentration camps and the killing of members of Croatian Jewry. The NDH authorities established concentration and labour camps as well as death camps for interned Jews. There were numerous concentration camps in the territory of the NDH, the largest one among them being Jasenovac. Many Jews fled to the Italian-annexed and occupied zones of the country, where they were relatively safe until September of 1943, when Italy capitulated. Only around 4,000 to 5,000 Croatian Jews survived the Second World War.

According to official data from 1931, around 15,000 Roma lived in territories that would be included in the newly proclaimed Independent State of Croatia in 1941. Estimates assume, however, that 30,000 Roma actually lived in this area during the Second World War. The policy towards Roma was based on racial laws and aimed at their genocidal extermination. From May 1942, Roma from the whole country were systematically deported to camps within the country, especially to the Jasenovac camp, where they were tortured and killed. Roma were also deported to camps in Nazi Germany (Auschwitz, Dachau). Part of the Roma from these territories were also interned in fascist camps in Italy. Roma were also victims of mass crimes by Chetniks (Serbian) and German military units and some Roma joined the anti-fascist partisan resistance movement. The first known Roma partisan military unit was founded in this area. It is estimated that almost the entire Roma community perished in the war, between 15,000 and 30,000. In the first post-war population census conducted in 1948, only 405 declared themselves as Roma in the territory of today's Croatia.

The archival service in Croatia is regulated by the Archives and Archival Institutions Act. It defines archival service as a mandatory public service of special importance for the Republic of Croatia, and archival holdings as a form of cultural heritage. Under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Media, the archival service’s task is to protect the integrity of the country’s archival holdings and to disseminate information about them. The network of public archives consists of the Croatian State Archive [Hrvatski državni arhiv, HDA] in Zagreb as the central archival institution, and 17 regional archives, as well as two branches and eight archive collection centres (http://www.arhiv.hr/Arhivska-služba/Arhivi-u-Hrvatskoj) . The Croatian State Archive is responsible for documents of central administration bodies and other records significant for the Republic of Croatia. The regional state archives are responsible for the records of local and regional authorities within their purview, which can include private organisations and institutions, business entities, and distinguished families and individuals. In addition to the state archives, there are collections in some church archives, private archives and museums.

Before EHRI, there were only limited surveys available on Holocaust archives in Croatia, which had been conducted by the Croatian State Archives and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. EHRI updated the information on a dozen archival institutions, which it took over from the previous Claims Conference / Yad Vashem databases. Together with the addition of newly identified institutions, there are now some 30 CHIs in Croatia on the EHRI Portal. Next, EHRI identified the collections via a top-down approach starting with the institutions with the largest number of relevant collections (Croatian State Archive, The State Archive of the City of Zagreb; as well as those of cities like Slavonski Brod, Osijek, etc.).

Disclaimer: The EHRI Extensive Report was updated in 2024.

A. EHRI approach to Croatia: Pre-existing research and archival guides, expert support

In order to investigate and identify Holocaust-related sources in Croatian archives, EHRI enlisted a local expert and reviewed the pertinent research. EHRI was able to draw on pre-existing research, such as: Narcisa Lengel Krizman ed. Zna li se: Antisemitizam – Holokaust – Antifašizam (1996) also in English as Anti-semitism, Holocaust, Anti-Fascism (1997); Ivo and Slavko Goldstein’s Holokaust u Zagrebu (2001); Zlata Živaković-Kerže, Stradanja i pamćenja: Holokaust u Osijeku i život koji se nastavlja (2006); Đuro Zatezalo, Jadovno. Kompleks ustaških logora 1941, I–II (2007); Vladimir Geiger / Martina Grahek Ravančić / Marica Karakaš Obradov (eds.) Logori, zatvori i prisilni rad u Hrvatskoj/Jugoslaviji 1941–1945, 1945–1951 (2010); Alexander Korb’s Im Schatten des Weltkriegs: Massengewalt der Ustasa gegen Serben, Juden und Roma in Kroatien 1941–1945 (2013); Marica Karakaš Obradov, “Prisilne migracije židovskog stanovništva na području Nezavisne Države Hrvatske”, Croatica Christiana periodica 37:72 (2013); Marica Karakaš Obradov, “Iseljavanje Židova iz Hrvatske nakon Drugoga svjetskog rata”, Historijski zbornik 66:2 (2013); Ivo Goldstein, Jasenovac (2018); Zdravko Dizdar, Logor Danica u Koprivnici 1941–1942, 1–3, (2017 – 2020); Naida-Michal Brandl, Židovi u hrvatskoj nakon Holokausta (2023).

As a result, a number of useful finding aids were identified. Online search tools are provided by both the Croatian State Archives and the National and University Library:

• Hrvatski arhivski informacijski sustav / Croatian archival information system (https://hais.arhiv.hr/HDA/)
• Biblionet (http://biblionet.arhiv.hr/)
• The National and University Library (https://www.nsk.hr)

A more traditional guide with general information about archives in Croatia is Igor Karaman’s Studije i prilozi iz arhivistike (Zagreb: Arhiv Hrvatske, 1993).

For a general guide on archival holdings in the Republic of Croatia see Vida Pavliček, “Pregled arhivskih fondova i zbirki Republike Hrvatske. Rad na prikupljanju i obradi podataka”, Arhivski vjesnik 50:1 (2007): 9–32. Regarding the archival material on the Holocaust, Josip Kolanović published a paper “Holocaust in Croatia – Documentation and research perspectives” Arhivski vjesnik 39 (1996): 157–174 and in 2013, the Croatian State Archives published an online paper presenting Holocaust-relevant collections (http://zagreb.arhiv.hr/hr/teme/holokaust.htm). It should also be noted that most collections in the Croatian State Archive and other state archives throughout the country have their own finding aids with descriptions of what can be found in which box of an entire collection. Some collections are better explored than others, often depending on the interests of archivists who use the collections for PhD theses or other post-doc works. However, they are available only in the archives themselves, and not online. General Guide for Archival Holdings in Republic of Croatia (Pregled arhivskih fondova i zbirki Republike Hrvatske, Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv, 2006–2007) is contemporary Croatian archives service obligatory finding aid, which provides basic data on archival holdings in Republic of Croatia in custody of archival, but also of non-archival institutions. It does not, however, single out “Holocaust” as a keyword. Its latest edition (2006) is not available in pdf.

As for surveys by third parties the USHMM has been intermittently active in Croatia since the late 1990s (Sporazum o suradnji između “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum-a” i Hrvatskog državnog arhiva. Bulletin. Hrvatski državni arhiv (Zagreb). 6:1–2 (1995): 17–18). During the 1990s, local experts surveyed and copied war-time material at the Zagreb State Archives. It leads an endeavor to digitalise material from other state archives in the country and pre-war records from Zagreb. The USHMM is also helping the Jewish Community in Zagreb archive to sort its material, which will later be digitalised. The microfilmed collections from the Second World War (surveyed in the 1990s), plus scanned material from the interwar period and the Second World War (ongoing survey) from different repositories around the country is gradually being put online. The work on the identification of the post-war material is in progress.

B. Characteristics of the Croatian archival system and specific challenges

All collections are usually accessible to the public, but if a file refers to a person who was born less than 100 years ago, it will not be possible to copy that file. Each archival director is responsible for the approval of requests to scan or copy specific material submitted by individual research projects rather than through a more global agreement between institutions.

Although important online search tools are available, they are of limited use for Holocaust scholars. Furthermore, keywords such as “Jewish” or “Holocaust” will not produce many results in these online search databases. Some collection descriptions on HAIS mention that “part of the material was copied for the needs of USHMM” (but typing “USHMM” into the search box will not lead one to collections copied for the USHMM).

Knowledge of regional history, on how institutions were organized, and of who (or which political body) was in charge at given dates in time is essential to find relevant information within the body of archival material. In some cases, there is a high probability of identifying Holocaust-relevant files, but often it is more like “finding a needle in a haystack”. Researchers need to rely on assistance from local archivists to identify or at least narrow down the search for relevant information to a number of collections. However, this can still leave one with hundreds of boxes to consult without any firm indication of what they may contain.

C. EHRI identification and description results on Croatia

C. I. In Croatia

EHRI identified and investigated Holocaust-relevant archival institutions and collections in Croatia in close cooperation with USHMM and Yad Vashem. The Croatian State Archive in Zagreb and the State Archive of the City of Zagreb are of particular importance. Two other state archives, in Osijek (a city with the second largest Jewish community in Croatia) and Rijeka (Fiume in Italian), a city in the northern Adriatic are equally important. These two archives are regional centres; Osijek has a rich Jewish history and was home to the second largest Jewish community in Croatia and during the Second World War the border town of Rijeka received thousands of Jewish refugees who had escaped To Italian held areas in NDH, or to the Italian territory. Three other cities with state archives and a relatively rich Jewish history are Varaždin, in the north, Slavonski Brod, which also has a relatively strong and as yet under-researched Jewish heritage, and Split, on the southern coast. Until the 19th century, Split’s Jewish community mostly consisted of Sephardic Jews, but this community also had roots dating back to the Roman period.

Apart from the State Archives, other important collection-holding institutions are the National and University Library in Zagreb (which stores interwar Jewish periodicals, some of which were published until April/May 1941), and the library and archive of the Jewish community center in Zagreb. At the time of writing, the latter is not yet open to the public as it is awaiting archival renovation and the sorting of its archival material into collections. There are smaller Jewish community archives in other Croatian cities and towns, which do not function as public institutions. One needs to first contact somebody from the local Jewish community to find out where they are and if their holdings can be consulted. However, the majority of archival collections of different Jewish communities in Croatia are held in the Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade, Serbia.

Other relevant institutions for Holocaust research in Croatia include the Documentation Center for Holocaust Victims and Survivors (CENDO), the Jasenovac Memorial and the Croatian History Museum of Croatia in Zagreb. The latter reported that they have some possibly interesting material concerning Croatian Jewish families within the Documentation and Information Department, and in the Photography department. However, the museum is under-staffed, so the archives have not been completely sorted and are not recognized as “Holocaust material” even though many of the families whose lives are documented perished during the war. The museum would like to see these materials labelled as Holocaust-related in the future. A similar situation applies to the Brod Regional Museum [Muzej Brodskog Posavlja] in Slavonski Brod.

The Archdiocesan Archives are now a part of the Croatian State Archive system, but some collections are held in a separate location within the church. Therefore, it has been added as a separate institution.

C.II. In other countries

With the exception of the USHMM and Yad Vashem, EHRI has yet to determine which archival institutions and collections outside of Croatia are relevant to Holocaust research on Croatia. Due to the fact that the territory of the NDH incorporated territory of the Eastern Srijem that s today’s Serbia as well as the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, some archives and museums in NW Serbia as well as those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example Banja Luka, Tuzla, Sarajevo, etc. have some documents relevant to Croatia. The Military Archives in Belgrade probably has archival collections relevant to the Holocaust in Croatia due to the fact that it still holds archival collections of the NDH and the Archives of Yugoslavia in Belgrade, is likely to hold relevant collections.